Because they are much more aggressive than their European sisters. The Africans attack in greater numbers and in just 30 seconds are capable of injecting eight times more toxins into their poor victims. “For thousands of years, due to the influence of the environment, the genetic and behavioral characteristics of African bees have been different from those of Europe, which are much more tame and easier to domesticate”, says biologist Osmar Malaspina, from the Center for the Study of Social Insects from the São Paulo State University (UNESP). It is believed that the aggressive way in which the African natives removed honey, setting fire to the colonies, would have caused the formation of such a warrior spirit in the species. Thus, the African bees were so prepared for self-defense that they perceive vibrations in the air from 30 meters away and already feel threatened when someone arrives less than 15 meters from the hive. When they attack, they can chase their victim for more than 1 kilometer.
So dangerous, they became known around the world as killer bees. The nickname didn’t stick for nothing: since the 1950s, more than 1,000 people have died from their bites on the American continent alone. In Brazil, they arrived in 1956, brought by the São Paulo agronomist Warwick Estevan Kerr, who wanted to improve honey production – more resistant to diseases, African honey is more efficient. Kerr brought 51 queens to the interior of São Paulo. Two years later, a technician carelessly allowed some to escape from the experimental colony. Since then, they have spread their genes so much that, today, around 90% of the country’s bees are descendants of the crossing of this species with the European one. From Brazil, they invaded almost all of South and Central America, and arrived in the United States in 1990, circumventing the various control centers built on the border of this country with Mexico.
– Why does a bee die when it stings someone?